Chapter 2: The Secret Daniel Should Never Have Known
The ballroom remained frozen.
Emily's fingers tightened around the armrest of her wheelchair.
Michael Carter stared at the little boy.
"What did you just say?" he asked.
Daniel swallowed hard.
For a moment, he looked like any frightened child standing among powerful adults.
Then he reached into his jacket and pulled out a worn envelope.
"My grandmother told me to give this to Emily if I ever met her."
Michael frowned.
"Who is your grandmother?"
Daniel hesitated.
"Her name is Martha Reyes."
The name hit Michael like a punch.
Martha Reyes.
The former housekeeper who had worked at the Carter estate years ago.
The woman who disappeared shortly after Emily's accident.
Michael's face turned pale.
Slowly, Daniel handed the envelope to Emily.
Inside was an old photograph.
Emily gasped.
It showed her standing beside her mother near the mansion's lake.
The photo had been taken only hours before the accident.
But something else appeared in the background.
A black SUV.
The same SUV everyone claimed had never been there.
The same vehicle police reports never mentioned.
Michael felt his knees weaken.
Because he knew exactly who owned that SUV.
His younger brother.
Richard Carter.
The man who inherited control of several Carter companies after Emily's accident changed everything.
For years Michael believed the crash had been unavoidable.
Now he wasn't so sure.
And neither was Emily.
"Why would your grandmother keep this?" Emily whispered.
Daniel lowered his eyes.
"Because she saw what happened that night."
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Silence swallowed the ballroom.
The secret buried for seven years had just begun to surface.
